In home automation and lighting control systems, fixedly installed or portable control devices are often utilized to control lighting. For example, control panels containing a one or more on/off switches and/or dimmer slides may be utilized. Also, for example, control panels containing a plurality of lighting scene buttons may be utilized in certain environments (e.g., meeting rooms). Each of the lighting scene buttons may be associated with a specific lighting setting for a certain activity and/or desired ambience. Such control panels, referred to herein as “physical control panels,” may be fixedly installed on a wall or other location accessible to users in an environment or may be provided as part of a remote control device or other movable device.
In recent years, remote control of some home automation and lighting control systems has been proposed, utilizing mobile devices, e.g. to control lighting. For example, a user interface of a mobile device may enable a user to turn a lighting fixture on/off and/or to control the dimming level of that lighting fixture. However, existing utilization of a mobile device to directly control lighting may be cumbersome. For example, when multiple lighting fixtures are available in a lighting infrastructure, it may be difficult to identify representations of a control for a particular of those lighting fixtures in lighting control software application and/or it may require multiple user actions to initiate the lighting control software and/or locate the representations of the control for a particular lighting fixture. Moreover, conventional approaches to employ a mobile device for controlling lighting fixtures does not enable association at a mobile device of alighting action with an event of a physical control panel, such that performance of the event at the control panel causes the associated lighting action to be performed.
Thus, there is a need in the art to utilize a mobile device to associate an desirable action with an event of a physical control panel, so that performance of the event at the control panel causes the associated action to be performed.